This week some groups spent a long work time in the Urban Meadow, and today our whole school spend the majority of the day there. Science groups explored mud-making and all of it’s inherent joys: digging, stirring, squishing, throwing, mud-painting, making mud cookies/soup/spaghetti, playing mud baseball. We asked kids both before we started and after this work, What is mud?

An essential part of learning to write is developing your fine motor movements and a key ingredient to that are strong fine motor muscles. Many of the works in the Green Room help to support the strengthening of these muscles. Some of these works are found on the practical life shelf, but not all.

In the Purple Room, our classroom shelf works are divided into areas. In addition to math, language, and practical life shelf works, we have sensorial works which are kept on shelves near the purple meeting rug. The kids use these materials on special work mats. We have had sensorial shelf works in the classroom since the beginning of the school year, and will continue to add to and switch them out as the children are ready for more challenging work. The purpose of these works is to help the child develop the senses, begin to understand gradation among materials and to develop discrimination of difference in width, length, dimension, and size.